If you don't toss your cookies on a regular basis, you leave a trail behind as you surf the web. But making any sense of that trail is a science that may be beyond the reach of automated analytics -at least for now.
The Google ad preference page shows my interests, which is actually evidence of my work plus the interests of the three teenage girls who also use my computer, often without changing to their own Google accounts. Then it guesses that I am male, age 24-34. Wrong on all counts. How is this useful to advertisers? These analytics are based on categorizing individuals based on the perceived behaviors of groups. In real life, we call that discrimination and try to teach our kids not to do it. Either way, there's a lot of room for error. How wrong are they about you? Link -via Metafilter
Ars Technica’s Casey Johnston has started a fun new game: find out what Google guesses is your age and gender. These “inferred demographics” are based on the websites you visit and are tracked by a Google cookie; they are used for advertising purposes. Given Google’s controversial announcement Tuesday that users will not be able to opt out of new privacy changes, learning what the company thinks about you seems particularly useful, and informative.
The Google ad preference page shows my interests, which is actually evidence of my work plus the interests of the three teenage girls who also use my computer, often without changing to their own Google accounts. Then it guesses that I am male, age 24-34. Wrong on all counts. How is this useful to advertisers? These analytics are based on categorizing individuals based on the perceived behaviors of groups. In real life, we call that discrimination and try to teach our kids not to do it. Either way, there's a lot of room for error. How wrong are they about you? Link -via Metafilter
I am, in fact, almost 40 and female. Let's hear it for living young? Or... bad analytics. One of the two.
Google: "You're immature and like men! Thus you must be a young girl! Here's a my little pony and cake recipes!"
Me: "I'm not immature!" *styles the my little pony's hair and giggles* "Oh Fluttershy, you so crazy."
Do you think that if you're interested in *computers* that automatically means you must be a man?
The phrase "tossing cookies" has certainly taken a new meaning in the Internet age!
For that matter, why are older women called Cougars but younger man-boys are not called Bait?
Dagnabbit!
I am actually a female aged 26 who likes sci-fi, rock music, gadgets and medical history. I thought my net use reflected these interests pretty well!
Interesting! I wonder what's in my browsing history that got it so confused? I have no idea where it got motorbikes and ringtones from, as I'm not the slightest bit interested in either, and have never browsed any related sites.